Tag Archives: Daniel Jones

DURHAM, N.C. – Former Duke quarterback Daniel Jones was selected in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the New York Giants with the sixth overall pick.

“I can’t have enough praise for Daniel, his family or the process he went through to make a decision to bypass a last year here,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “Anytime you make a decision that is something you really want to do, you make a right decision. There’s a joy in watching players who have worked hard and been committed to the process. Daniel Jones embraces something we believe in here – real swag is no swag.”

Jones, a 6-5, 220-pound native of Charlotte, N.C., attended the NFL Draft in Nashville. He is the highest Blue Devil draft pick since Mike Junkinwent fifth overall to the Cleveland Browns in 1987, and just the seventh Duke player to be selected in the opening round of the draft. Jones is the 14th Duke draft pick by the Giants and the first since Drew Strojny was a seventh round choice in 2004. Jones is also the first Blue Devil quarterback to be chosen in the NFL Draft since Sean Renfree went in the seventh round to the Atlanta Falcons in 2013.

A two-year captain and two-time team Most Valuable Player, Jones played in and started 36 career games with the Blue Devils and completed 764 of 1,275 (.599) passes for 8,201 yards with 52 touchdowns and 29 interceptions while rushing 406 times for 1,323 yards and 17 scores.

“He is big, intelligent and has a terrific arm,” Cutcliffe added. “His work ethic and commitment to excellence is right along those same lines. He has a focus on his job and he doesn’t distract easily. He is thirsty for this. It’s refreshing that Daniel’s passion is not money, but success as a player. I’ve never seen him lose his focus.”

Jones closed his career holding Duke all-time records for touchdown-to-interception ratio (1.79), pass completion-to-interception ratio (26.34), pass attempt-to-interception ratio (43.97) and pass attempts per game (35.42). In addition, on Duke’s all-time charts he ranks second in pass completion percentage, second in pass completions per game (21.22), second in most games with multiple touchdown passes (16), second in total offensive yards (9,524), second in TD responsibility (52 passing and 17 rushing), tied for second in games with 30 or more pass completions (5), tied for second in 100-yard rushing games by a quarterback (2), third in passing yards per game (227.81), third in TD passes, third in rushing TDs by a quarterback, tied for third in most games with three or more TD passes (6), third in TD passes of 20 or more yards (27), third in games with 20 or more pass completions (20), third in rushing yards by a quarterback, fourth in pass efficiency rating (122.86), tied for fourth in 300-yard passing games (9), fifth in passing yards, fifth in pass completions, fifth in pass attempts and tied for 14th in rushing TDs.

In 2018, Jones completed 237 of 392 (.605) passes for 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions while rushing for 319 yards and three TDs on 104 attempts. The regular season was highlighted by a pair of ACC Quarterback of the Week citations following wins over Northwestern and North Carolina. In the triumph over the Tar Heels, his third as Duke’s starting quarterback, Jones threw for 361 yards while rushing for 186 yards to post the fifth-highest single-game offensive yardage total (547) in ACC history, also the most by a Blue Devil in a single contest. He capped the season by earning Walk-On’s Independence Bowl Offensive Player of the Game honors after leading Duke to a 56-27 win over Temple thanks to a bowl-record 423 passing yards and six total touchdowns (5 passing and 1 rushing).

The selection of Jones is Duke’s first NFL Draft pick since Laken Tomlinson (first round) and Jamison Crowder (fourth round)were chosen in 2015.

The Duke Blue Devils defeated their archrival, North Carolina 42-35 to go 7-3 on the season.

This was the third consecutive victory in the series for the Blue Devils.

Duke retained the Victory Bell via its offensive output while earning its fifth winning season in the last six seasons.

"Right now we keep the Victory Bell down there next to the locker room so it is fun to see that every day and do so for another year," said, Duke quarterback Daniel Jones.

Daniel Jones led Duke with a record-breaking performance. Jones threw for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns while adding another 186 yards rushing and a touchdown on the ground which was a career high as well.

The total of 547 yards for Jones set an all-time Duke single-game record previously held by Anthony Dilweg.

Despite the win with several key personell out, Duke suffered another loss. All ACC candidate and secondary team lead Dylan Singleton is out for the season per David Cutcliffe and will have surgery this week and will DL Ben Frye.

Duke rolled up 629 yards of offense and that translated into a huge first half. The defense stood tall in the second half and only allowed a late, desperation Tar Heel score.

The Blue Devils must now travel to Death Valley minus several starters for a game with the nations 2nd ranked team, Clemson.

The Duke Blue Devils move to 1-0 on the season with a 34-14 opening night victory over Army. It was the seventh consecutive opening night win for a David Cutcliffe coached team,

Duke took a 17-0 lead into halftime where Collin Wareham knocked down a 25-yard field goal to get the scoring started. Two Army fumbles led to a Brittain Brown 12 yard rush and a 1-yard plunge from Daniel Jones to make the score 17-0.

The Blue Devils came out sluggish in the 2nd half when Daniel Jones fumbled in Army territory. A scoring drive of 11 plays for 54 yards, chewed up close to seven minutes off the clock and a Kelvin Hopkins plunge made the score 17-7.

Duke answered when Deon Jackson rolled into the end zone from 7 yards out after a 7 play 68-yard drive in only 2:09. "We responded well and I think that caught them off-guard," said David Cutcliffe in the post-game press conference.

Army answered again on a Kelvin Hopkins to Cam Harrison 45yard pass play to make it 24-14 in just 2:16. The last time Army threw for over 100 yards was two years ago against Wake Forest.

But the Blue Devils would not be denied and Duke went up 31-14 on a Daniel Jones 25 yard touchdown pass to Aaron Young who had his first career 100-yard receiving game.

Ben Humphreys would later block an Army field goal attempt and Dylan Singleton returned it 33 yards to the Duke 35.

Collin Wareham would later tack on a 30-yard field goal to make it 34-14.

Daniel Jones finished the night 13-17 for 197 yards and one touchdown completion to Aaron Young who finished the evening with a career-high 114 yards in receptions.

"Aaron is big, fast and has matured. We are more physical at every position including the receiver," said Cutcliffe.

The Blue Devils were led on the ground by Brittain Brown with 75 yards and Jones added 43.

Dylan Singleton led Duke with 11 tackles, while Koby Quansah added 9.

The Blue Devils will travel to Northwestern next week in a battle of 1-0 teams.

Tidbits -

Cutcliffe said Army threw 21 passes against Duke and 24 all season a year ago, He mentioned his team had not worked on that part of the game as much but that his team still won by 20 points.

The Duke coach also said players who did not play in this game could see action moving forward for it was hard to play a lot of players due to Army's style.